Before Sebald Was Great
Books & the Arts / Before Sebald Was Great By looking at his early work, we can better understand who the German writer was beyond his persona as the melancholy intellectual and serious man of letters. W.G. Sebald, 1999. (Ulf Andersen / Getty Images) Since his death in 2001, the reputation of W.G. Sebald has become formidable, even imposing. At times, he feels like a totem: the Western world’s last Absolutely Serious Writer. The German English author of novels (or simply works of “prose” if y